There are various applications in which a large number of electrical wires must be terminated in a single electrical connector which, in turn, is mated with a complementary connector that also is terminated to the same large number of electrical wires. One such example of this type of application is in machine tools and robotic applications, such as in the automotive industry. In a typical example, six electrical wires may be required for each axis of a hexaxial robot, resulting in a total of thirty-six wires having to be terminated to thirty-six terminals mounted on an insulative housing. These wires must be connected individually, and care must be taken that they are connected in their designated groups of six wires.
It can be understood from the above that problems often can be encountered in terminating such electrical connectors having such large numbers of wires and terminals. The connecting process may be difficult and inefficient. This is particularly true if the lengths of the respective wires, such as in a wiring harness, are different due to the difference in positions of the axes of a robot, for instance. Other problems are encountered in the inefficiency of using such wiring systems when maintenance or replacement must be performed. Other problems encountered with such connectors include the difficulty in polarizing such large connectors, in grounding such connectors and in ensuring that the connectors are fully mated. Often, lever-type assisting mechanisms are used to ensure that the connectors in a connector assembly are fully mated.
The present invention is directed to solving one or more of the problems discussed above.